Literature

Related Links

Automation Fair 2009

Industry Forums

Food & Beverage

High commodity prices and corporate earnings continue to fuel mergers and acquisitions. Consistent standards and reporting across cultures is a requirement for these mega-producers. This Forum presents emerging automation and information trends that help meet demand while reducing manufacturing uncertainties and costs. It also presents new techniques to enhance efficiency while increasing process flexibility and reliability.

When

Who Should Attend?

The Food and Beverage Forum is designed for management and operations personnel. If you have responsibility for, or contribute directly to, the financial, production, energy or overall efficiency of your plant, and want to hear how you can optimize your plant’s operations, this forum is for you.

You Will Learn

Agenda

Utilizing the Latest Process Control Technology for New Soy Ingredient Plant

Steve Schiedemeyer, Vice President of Engineering, ESE, Inc.
Tim Foster, Vice President of Engineering and joint founder, Green Planet Farms

When Green Planet Farms made a decision to build a green field pilot plant, its primary challenge involved being able to expand from a lab environment to a full scale, automated manufacturing process without having to redesign or re-validate the system. The need for a scaleable and flexible manufacturing environment was paramount to fit the needs of Green Planet Farms and the clear objectives it had for the plant to fit with its environmental stewardship goals. The presentation will review how and why Green Planet Farms with the help of ESE, Inc., the Rockwell Automation Solution Provider Green Planet Farms partnered with for this project, selected the PlantPAx process control system to base the solution on and the benefits they have experienced.

Applying Technology and Beyond, How to Sustainably Succeed

David Spryshak, General Mills, Inc.

General Mills is known world-wide as a model for successful improvement initiatives in the manufacturing sector, and is respected for their leadership in social responsibility. The company has set an ambitious goal for reducing energy consumption and other environmental sustainability improvements, and teamed with their automation solution provider to make it a reality. This presentation shows the key aspects of this effort, and focuses on one topic, applying technology to optimize the operation of HVAC units. This presentation describes not only the innovative technical solutions and the development and delivery methodologies, but how the corporate culture and individual behaviors make these results a sustained reality.

Using advanced technologies to drive greater efficiency across multiple sites

Scott Young, Senior Consultant, MAVERICK Technologies LLC

Darigold is one of the nation's largest agricultural cooperatives consisting of 500 dairy farmers who are also owners. Since 1918, Darigold has have taken pride in producing dairy products with unsurpassed quality. Increasing processing efficiencies at all 11 of its plants is an integral part of Darigold’s business strategy. Through innovative technology and their efficient, flexible production capabilities, they deliver value-added products and customer-driven solutions. Darigold is now known throughout the world for bringing fresh, wholesome dairy products and ingredients from the Pacific Northwest to people all around the globe. Discover how Darigold’s choice to partner with Maverick Technologies, and standardize on the Rockwell platform helps them meet the unique challenges that come with multiple plants, manufacturing units and business information systems.

Proven Strategies to Reduce Your Plant's Energy Usage

Ray Zimmermann, President, RJZ LLC

Energy usage in the food and beverage industry continues to be of concern for manufacturers. Not too long ago, it was only a cost issue. Responsible production and sustainability initiatives have added greater urgency and prompted more action to reduce the amount of energy used. If you are being challenged to reduce your plant's energy expenses, this presentation will share with you proven strategies to increase your success.

Speakers

Steve Schiedemeyerhas over 20 years of experience in the automation and process control industry. Steve has been in his current role at ESE for 5 years and previously was with Rockwell Automation for 10 years as an Engineer and Operations Manager. ESE has been at the forefront of designing and commissioning innovative manufacturing plant automation systems for food and beverage applications since 1981. ESE tightly integrates leading edge analytical instruments with best-in-class control systems and sophisticated software resulting in improved plant utilization, increased yields, better product quality, and faster delivery.

Tim Foster is one of Green Planet Farms’s founders. He was educated as a mechanical engineer and has 30 years experience in the food production industry. Previously, he co-founded Specialty Protein Producers, Inc. Green Planet Farms, located in South Sioux City, Neb., is a leading ingredient manufacturer of soy isolates. Soy isolates are a key ingredient in a wide variety of food products, including milk, protein shakes and snack foods. They are the only company that uses a unique, water-based extraction process for soy isolates that produces high quality and fully functional, hexane-free organic soy proteins for ingredient manufacturers.

David Spryshak is a 20+ year veteran in Control Systems Engineering and Information Systems at General Mills, Inc. He is the Program Manager of the corporate Facilities Control & Information Systems initiative – a program that focuses on improving the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of energy used in the manufacture and distribution of the large variety of food products that General Mills provides.

Scott Young has over 19 years of experience in the automation and process control industry. Scott came on board at MAVERICK Technologies when the company joined forces with Mission Controls. Scott co-founded Mission Controls in 1997 and served as the chief operating officer for the company's last four years. Scott now works out of MAVERICK's Santa Ana office as a senior consultant, providing technical expertise and process knowledge for solutions in the dairy, food and beverage industries. MAVERICK Technologies is celebrating their 10 year anniversary, as a global engineering, systems integration and operational consulting firm. They deliver innovative solutions for a wide range of manufacturing and process clients, leveraging their extensive network of skilled employees deployed from regional and international locations.

Ray Zimmermann is a highly experienced domain specialist from the consumer products, beverage and brewing industries, providing strategic technology investment support with business aligned roadmaps across all areas of food and beverage operations. Zimmerman has experience in engineering, manufacturing operations, strategic planning and finance. He also has experience in primary metals and packaging industry paper mills, folding carton, corrugated, and can manufacturing. At Anheuser-Busch he was responsible for systems infrastructure and support for domestic and international operations.